The new iPad

With the new iPad, one can touch up photos, read a book and play the piano. JANICE NKOLI IFEME writes on the new Apple iPad 3.

Technology giant Apple has introduced another iPad into the market. Named iPad 3, the device, an improvement on iPad 2, is already warming its way into many homes and offices.

Its fundamental elements - display, camera and wireless connection – have been made better; all of which make the new, third-generation iPad capable of so much more. The result of laboratory tests by Consumer Reports rated it as the best iPad it has ever tested, whether from Apple or any other manufacturer.

It has a display that renders colour and detail superbly, better than its predecessor, whose display ranks among the best. The new Retina display squeezes 3.1 million pixels into the iPad’s 9.7-inch screen, four times the number of pixels in the iPad 2.

In further tests, the display also proved its mettle on games. When both were running the same sophisticated video games, the higher resolution of the new iPad made for smoother edges to people or objects, especially when they were in sharp contrast to the background. And there was also more detail apparent in those backgrounds.

Apple has also replaced the dual-core processor in the iPad 2 with a quad-core A5X graphics processor in the new model. That processor allowed the new iPad to render those sharper images with no degradation in smoothness.

It showcases a new game tagged Air Supremacy, which looks more realistic than ever. It is believed that some new games might look even more realistic on the new iPad than on the iPad 2.

The quad-core processor serves another purpose: The iPad’s high-resolution display requires more power and the efficiency of the A5X should help mitigate the battery drain it causes.

Among the other improvements to the device is an upgraded camera, one with five mega pixels compared with less than one mega pixel for the iPad 2. Besides its edge in resolution, the new iPad yielded very good images in preliminary camera tests, compared with fair images produced by the iPad 2.

Consumer reports states that Apple has taken an excellent product and improved it significantly, though not dramatically.